Keynote Speakers

Dr. Angel Hsu is an Associate Professor of Public Policy and Environment, Ecology and Energy at UNC-Chapel Hill. She is the founder and director of the Data-Driven EnviroLab, an interdisciplinary research group that applies quantitative approaches to pressing environmental issues. She focuses on the convergence of urbanization and climate change, specifically delving into how cities play dual roles as contributors to and potential solutions to climate change. Her research applies data from satellite remote sensing and other spatially-explicit sources to evaluate environmental policy performance. She was a contributing author to the IPCC 6th Assessment Report and lead author of the 2018 UNEP Emissions Gap Report chapter on non-state and subnational actors. She regularly advises governments, and has chaired and contributed to the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Councils and was a 2018 TED Age of Amazement and 2020 TED Climate Countdown invited speaker. She has a PhD in Environmental Policy from Yale University and was formerly an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Yale-NUS College in Singapore.

Dr. Yiping Fang joined Portland State University’s Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning in 2011. Her research interests focus on housing, inequality, and comparative planning policies. Her scholarship delves into the social transformations triggered by China’s rapid urbanization processes followed by its economic reforms. Dr. Fang holds a PhD in Urban Planning from the University of Colorado at Boulder, preceded by a Master’s in the same field and a Bachelor’s in Architecture, both from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.